Eternal Balance: Between the Dark and Light
by Caitlin M
Summary: PG for...well, let's just call it potential. Demons, angels, heaven & hell... trust me, you've never read anything quite like this! It's good (I hope), read it! The fifth chapter is here. Please don't pelt me with tomatoes for taking so long!
1. Angels and Demons

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Nothing, I tell you! Well, except for some manga, and videos, and stuff. . .  
  
A/N: Wahh! I'm starting too many stories! Total A/U here! This is set in the (almost) Christian versions of heaven and hell, but there is no God, and no Devil, either. The angels and demons are pretty much on their own. I'm giving the girls fighting powers, so there! B/V, G/CC, but not yet. Everyone uses ki, but not really to fly with, just to throw and make them stronger and faster.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
The battle was over. Hell's forces had been driven back, for the time being, and an eerie silence had descended on the battlefield. Bloody and victorious, the angel Bulma dispatched her last opponent and looked around. The plain was littered with the dead and the dying, but by now she was used to such things, although they still made her queasy if she let herself look too closely. This was her third battle, and had gone pretty much like the other two as far as she could tell, but as the post-battle quiet fell she had a sense that something --no, someone, was missing. Two someones, in fact.  
  
Son Goku, Grand General of the Army of Heaven, and Vegeta, Lord High Commander of the forces of Hell, eldest (and only) son of the Lord of Hells, were nowhere to be seen. At the beginning of the fight, they had gone straight for each other's throats, as was their custom. There was a long standing, bitter rivalry between them, at least according to common gossip, but Bulma had caught a glimpse of Goku's face as he dove towards his opponent during her second battle. He had not looked bitter, or even angry. He had been smiling, as if in anticipation of the challenge.  
  
However, Goku always returned at the end of the battle, usually cut, burned, and dirty, looking determined yet unwilling to discuss what had transpired. This time, he was nowhere to be seen, and there was no sign of Vegeta either. Bulma, who had been quite the explorer as a teenager, had known Son Goku since he was ten and she was fourteen, and she was very attached to the spiky-haired angel in a platonic, sisterly way. She sighed, picked up her emergency pack and flew off in the direction she had last seen the two rivals in the hopes that she could find her oldest friend before anything too serious happened to him. He did tend to be. . .a bit hard-headed. Reckless, even. And she wasn't going to take the chance that his absence had a perfectly harmless reason.  
  
* * *  
  
"Give up!" Goku shouted, as he flung yet another ki blast at his opponent.  
  
"Never! I'll never surrender to a third-class traitor like you, Kakarotto!" Vegeta spat, as he dodged the blast and came in with a hard kick to Goku's stomach. They had been at it for three hours or so, and both were battered, slashed, and totally unaware that the battle between their separate armies had ended. In their present engrossed state, it probably would not have mattered if they had known. Goku caught himself in midair and flung a quick, barely charged bolt at Vegeta, to force him back a little. The Demon Prince instinctively parried with his black, bloody sword, and Goku saw his chance. He leapt in, bringing his own bright blade down in a wicked overhand chop which would probably have crushed in Vegeta's shoulder if it had connected properly. At the last moment, Vegeta leapt back, but not far enough. The sword drew a deep gash down Vegeta's chest and across his stomach.  
  
"Aaurgh!!" Vegeta cut off his cry of surprise and pain as soon as he could. He would not give Goku the satisfaction of knowing how much that had hurt him!  
  
But Goku had learned long ago never to let go of an advantage when fighting Vegeta, and he pressed forward, knocking Vegeta's weapon from his suddenly slack grip, and pressing the bloodied tip of his own blade against the demon's throat.  
  
"Give up!" Goku demanded, or more accurately, pleaded. "You'll die of that wound if it's untreated, and you can't possibly make it back to the Hells from here!"  
  
"I'd rather die than accept help from you, Kakarotto!" Vegeta growled, his vision tinged slightly red from pain and battle rage.  
  
"I'm not Kakarotto!" Goku half-growled, his face growing even more stern.  
  
"You're wrong," Vegeta told him, snarling. "You will always be Kakarotto, no matter how much you deny it." The demon gathered the last dregs of his rapidly fading strength and fired a blast into Goku's face at point-blank range. The angel rocked backwards, from surprise more than the weak impact, but it was enough. Vegeta fled into the sky, and vanished quickly in the gloom. Goku coughed as the smoke cleared and stared after him. The demon had been moving at barely half his normal speed, and the angel knew he should pursue him, but. . .  
  
"I'm so tired," he murmured to himself, as his adrenaline ebbed along with his battle rage and more than a little blood. "So. . .tired. . ." The angel's eyes rolled back, his knees gave way, and he crumpled. He didn't even feel himself hit the rocky ground.  
  
* * *  
  
Bulma flew onward. She had bandaged the minor wounds she had incurred in combat before starting, but for the best part of an hour she had been searching for Goku. So far, however, there was no sign of him. She peered down through the mist, watching the ground carefully, but she still almost missed the darker shape huddled on the dark ground. It was certainly no angel, for they glowed with an inner light unless they were dead or very near, but it was definitely something worth investigating. Bulma made up her mind and descended.  
  
As she landed, she got her first good look at the figure and stifled a gasp. It was the Demon Prince himself, Vegeta! At her slight sound of surprise, he stirred, groaned, and opened his eyes. He turned his head to glare at her.  
  
"Come to gloat, have you, angel?" he growled. "Or maybe to try and finish me?" A long, deep gash across his torso was bleeding freely, and another on his upper right leg also leaked the precious red liquid. From the looks of things, he had lost a lot of blood, and she could feel his energy ebbing lower with every breath he took despite his fierce words and forbidding scowl. A mortal would have already been dead, but demons -and angels- were made of tougher stuff. Bulma considered the situation. As an angel of the light, it was her duty to slay demons, and it would be merciful to give the deeply wounded demon prince a swift death. Deciding, she stepped forwards.  
  
"I didn't come here for you, but now that I am here, it's my duty to give you a quick death."  
  
The demon started to snort, and winced instead. "If you can," he growled. "I'm not done yet."  
  
Bulma moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye was crouched over the demon, who brought up his uninjured leg and kicked her up and off. She fell heavily on her back, impressed and winded. Even severely weakened and probably dying, Vegeta still had some fight in him. However, she could tell as she approached again that that kick had probably been the last of it. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing shallowly. As she crouched over him again, he shot her a hate-filled, blacker than ebony glare but did not manage to gather enough strength to do anything as she pressed the razor edge of her sword against his throat.  
  
"Damn you," he whispered hoarsely. "Damn you!"  
  
"You're too weak to damn anyone, now," Bulma retorted, but her only reply was the sound of Vegeta's labored breathing. He had finally surrendered to pain and blood loss, and passed out. Bulma took a deep breath, started to pull her sword across his throat, and stopped. She shook her head, tried again, and stopped again. Finally she stood up, slamming her sword angrily into its sheath.  
  
"What is wrong with me?!" she demanded of the sky. "I've killed demons before, why is this one any different?" There was no reply. Bulma growled in disgust, sounding very much like Vegeta. After a moment, she started to walk away, hesitated, and glanced back at the Demon Prince. If his bleeding wasn't staunched, he would only hold on for another hour, or a little more depending on how tenacious he was. She should give him a quick death, she should, but. . .he was so. . .  
  
The angel found herself at Vegeta's side again. You can't possibly mean to do this! the rational part of her cried, as she removed her emergency pack and unCapped several rolls of bandages. Bulma ripped off a few lengths, wadded them up, and pressed them against the ugly wound on Vegeta's torso. The cloths were quickly soaked with blood, but she did not exchange them. The important thing was to apply consistent pressure, in order to stop the steady, though sluggish, pour of red.  
  
* * *  
  
Ten minutes later, Bulma's hands were soaked with blood and her arms were red-spattered halfway to the elbow, but Vegeta's wound had finally stopped bleeding, he was still alive, and his energy level seemed to have stabilized. There had been a nasty moment when it had dropped almost to zero, but it steadied as the outpour of blood was staunched. Bulma waited a moment, to make sure he really had stopped bleeding, then applied some fresh bandages and secured them. She also bandaged the gash on his leg, and then sat back and inspected him. The tiny, logical bit of her brain that remained told her that she could, and should, leave him here, but the rest of her sat on it. She was going to carry this rescue through properly, now that she had begun.  
  
"Where can I take you?" she asked the unconscious Demon Prince, not expecting or receiving a reply. "If we go to the heavens, they'll kill you, and all my work will have been wasted. But, if we go to the Hells, they'll kill me, which would be even worse. Let's see. . ."  
  
Bulma considered, and sure enough, she came up with an idea. "I know!" she exclaimed. "The Caves of Omhadesh! No one claims them, they're only about a mile away, and I used to play there when I was a kid! Perfect! You know," she remarked to Vegeta as she bent over him, "that's where I met Son-kun. Oomph!"  
  
The last was an exhalation of air as she attempted to lift Vegeta. "Man, you're heavy! Guess it's all that muscle." She rearranged her grip and succeeded in getting him off the ground. She pushed her power level up as high as she could, making Vegeta seem marginally lighter. She was no Son Goku, but all angels and most demons learned to manipulate their ki to a certain extent. With a grunt of effort, she lifted off and flew towards the caves.  
  
* * *  
  
Vegeta became aware of himself slowly, and he kept his eyes closed. It was always a good idea to fake unconsciousness in an unknown situation, and Vegeta had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered was cursing at a blue-haired angel who had been about to kill him, but if this was so, then why was he still alive? Oh, well. The Demon Prince dismissed this for now and let his awareness spread to the outlying parts of his body. There was a fiery line of pain across his chest and stomach and another across his right leg, both courtesy of Goku, as well as a wide variety of other, smaller pains which were probably bruises and burns. As nothing had disturbed him during his assessment and he was getting no closer to determining his location, Vegeta took a risk and opened his eyes.  
  
He seemed to be in a cave. If he strained his ears, he could hear running water somewhere nearby. Everything seemed to be dark and quiet, except.Vegeta turned his head, trying to more accurately identify the small, regular sound, and saw its source. The angel he remembered as having been about to slay him was curled up in a folding bed across the room (which was really a cave), and the sound he had heard was her breathing. He examined her as she slept. She was fairly small and slim, with long blue hair and the normal glow and white wings. Vegeta flexed his own wings and winced. Either he had pulled something, or he had snapped one of the smaller bones. But then, his last landing hadn't been too graceful. . .in fact, it had been more of a crash than an actual landing.  
  
Which reminded him, why was he still alive? Or, more accurately, why had the angel rescued him? If she had gone through with her promise to kill him, or even if she had simply left him, he would not have reawakened. But why had she done it? Well, there was only one way to find out, and that was to ask the angel herself. Normally, having come to this decision, he would have marched over, kicked her awake, and demanded an explanation. But at the moment, he still felt exhausted, and as weak as a new-born kitten. He noticed that the angel hadn't removed his skin-tight leggings or gauntlets- possibly because she was too shy, but more probably because she simply didn't realize that they were clothes and not merely a part of him. Many angels seemed inclined to draw that conclusion, possibly because they would never dream of wearing such tight clothing.  
  
Vegeta shook his head to clear it of his wandering thoughts, and decided that he needed a bath, since he was still mostly coated with dirt and dried blood. He could probably find the source of the water from its sound, but was he strong enough to make it there? He decided to find out, and began to sit up. The demon checked himself after a movement of only a few inches, breath hissing between his teeth as his newest wound pulled painfully. Vegeta recognized the signs, and knew that if he attempted to move at anything more than a crawl, the slash would re-open. He growled under his breath in annoyance, and slid carefully off the folding bed where he had been placed, trying to bend as little as possible.  
  
At last, he stood, and had to catch himself on the bed as his knees nearly buckled. He was weaker than he had thought! Behind him, he heard someone yawn, and turned. The angel was awake.  
  
* * *  
  
Bulma awoke slowly, luxuriously, and soundlessly. Her eyes opened, and immediately flicked to the rescued Demon Prince. He was awake, and just sliding out of bed. She saw his face go white with pain, but he didn't cry out and kept moving until he was standing up, where he promptly had to catch himself on the edge of the bed as his knees gave. She decided it was time to let him know that she was awake and gave a yawn as she stretched. He whirled, or tried to, and nearly fell, his face going even whiter as the wound pulled again.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked him.  
  
He glared at her. "To wash, unless it offends your tender sensibilities?"  
  
"Sarcastic, aren't we?" she replied. "Go ahead. That way I won't have to smell you. Here, catch!" Bulma tossed him a roll of bandages and a towel, which he caught easily, wincing.  
  
Bulma heard him growl, "Stupid Kakarotto," under his breath as he stalked into the next cave (which had a waterfall), and wondered who, or what, a Kakarotto was.  
  
* * *  
  
Walking was a painful effort, but Vegeta didn't allow himself to falter until he was out of the angel's field of vision, wherepon he promptly leaned against the nearest wall and gasped. The wound on his stomach was reminding him painfully to be careful, and his strength had been depleted to such an extent that he would be lucky to make it back to the other cave without collapsing. In the meantime he moved slowly towards the small waterfall (about six feet high) and tested it by thrusting his hand under the flow of water. It was tepid, surprisingly, but if he stood under it the force of the water's fall would probably reopen his wound. So, instead, he moved towards the small stream, unwound the bandage from around his thigh, and stripped. Vegeta began, very slowly and carefully, to wash.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, in another part of the Otherlands, a squad of demons was on patrol. There were ten of them, spread over the landscape in a ragged line with each scout just in sight of the ones to the left and right of them. Their leader, in the center and slightly ahead of the others, was a big, powerful demon with thick, spiky hair tied at the base of his neck and falling down to his knees. He lifted his head and sniffed the air. Raditz had an exceptionally keen sense of smell, even for a demon, but whatever he was smelling was several hours old, and faint, just on the edge of scenting. Just as he began to recognize it, a member of his squad shouted.  
  
"Captain Raditz, I've found an angel!"  
  
Raditz lost the scent, cursed under his breath, and headed toward the scout, who was bent over a faintly glowing shape. Still alive, then, Raditz thought, and then he saw who the angel was. An awful sinking sensation hit in the pit of his stomach as he recognized the battered form on the ground in front of him. Raditz was one of the few demons who knew the true story of Goku's betrayal, and Goku was lucky that this was so. A demon who recognized him but was not in the 'know' would probably have killed him on sight, but Raditz would not. No, he wouldn't kill him, but what he would do would probably turn out far worse for the angel.  
  
"Bring him with us," Raditz ordered. "King Vegeta will want to question him." And as he watched two of his squad sling the angel's arms over their shoulders and take off, and as he flew after them, Goku's brother ordered his heart to stop reminding him that he was betraying his own flesh and blood.  
  
* * *  
  
In the formless lands beyond Chaos, something stirred which had never been intended to exist. The Factors were nearly right for it to awake again, but not yet. Not quite yet. The something drifted back into sleep, a restless sleep studded with dreams of blood and the emptiness which is worse, even, then the dark. 


	2. Many different viewpoints

Disclaimer: Well, if I owned DBZ, then this wouldn't be a FAN FICTION!  
  
A/N: A new chapter at last! Not that anyone read the first one... Oh well! Thanks to the two people (besides Dylan, and he doesn't count) that reviewed it up to now. I can't write with no prodding, ya know!  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Bulma and Vegeta were locked in a staring match. Or more accurately, a glaring match. Its cause was this: Vegeta had emerged back into the main cave from his wash with a towel around his waist, demanding fresh clothes. Upon learning that the only fresh clothes Bulma had that could possibly fit him were spares of Goku's, he had declared that he would rather go naked. After a spirited argument about what he would and would not wear, he had been forced to put on the pants, at least, and had spent his time since then glaring at the angel, who glared right back at him. Vegeta flattered himself that his glare was the more frightening, but any bystanders would have been unable to tell the difference, since if anyone with less mastery of glaring had been on the receiving end of either of those smoldering stares for more than a few seconds, he or she would probably have gone up in smoke.  
  
They glared. And glared. Every now and then one or the other would snort, but no blinking could be observed in either party. And, since they seem set to continue glaring until sometime in the next century, let's move on to someone who's involved in a bit more action at the moment.  
  
* * *  
  
Goku awoke in darkness, with a pounding headache. He attempted to move and realized that his head wasn't the only part of his body that was, or had at least taken, a pounding. Disregarding this, he tried to move a bit more and abruptly fell off the stone slab that had been supporting him.  
  
"Oww..." he moaned, but no one seemed to have heard him. He looked around a bit more, and decided that he was in a cell. Damp stone walls, dark, iron bars in the door and windows, manacles on the wall...yep, definitely a cell. The question was, where? And who had put him there? Goku took stock, using not only his eyes but his ears and nose as well. At the end of his inspection, he came to a very unwelcome conclusion. All around him was the smell of demons. A few of them were even familiar demons. So, he was surrounded by demons, he was in a cell... this could only mean one thing. He was in the dungeons of the Lord of Hells.  
  
"Damn," he growled to himself, and wondered briefly if they had located Vegeta. After all, the prince had been in the same general area as Goku, if his estimates of how far the demon could have flown were correct. Abandoning this fruitless line of inquiry after only a few seconds, he wandered to the door and looked out. A vitally important realization had just come upon him, and he desperately needed to share it with someone.  
  
"Um, hey," he called to the guard, who was half-hidden in shadow at the end of the hall. "I'm really hungry in here, could I get some food?"  
  
The guard shifted position, coming nearer to Goku's cell, and the angel gasped as he saw the figure's face. The scarred demon smiled humorlessly.  
  
"Hello, son. Long time, no see."  
  
* * *  
  
"WHERE IS SHE!?"  
  
The shout came from an angel, a tall, black-haired, scarred young man, who at the moment wasn't looking very angelic at all. His face was dark with anger, and he held a shorter, blond boy pinned against the wall. The boy was looking scared, and with good reason.  
  
"I-I d-don't know, Yamcha-san! Honest! I just saw her fly off, but I thought she was headed back to the palace!"  
  
Yamcha still looked suspicious, but he let the boy go. However, the youth did not immediately run away, but instead gave Yamcha a sympathetic look.  
  
"I'm sorry, Yamcha-san. Maybe you could ask Kuririn-san?"  
  
Yamcha grunted, and the boy left. The battle-scarred angel slumped against the wall of the corridor, sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. Where could she be? It was the day after the battle, and still no sign of Bulma, or General Goku, for that matter. Search parties had, of course, been dispatched, but so far no one had found anything, and Yamcha was worried. What if she had been captured, or worse, killed? With another sigh, he sent a mental plea her way.  
  
`Bulma, please...be safe.'  
  
* * *  
  
At the moment, the last thing on Bulma's mind was `being safe'. She was engaged in yet another fight with Prince Vegeta.  
  
"You can't go back yet! You can barely even move! How do you expect to get all the way to the Demonlands?"  
  
He glared at her murderously. "I'll manage. Just get the hell out of the doorway, stupid woman! I've got a score to settle with Kakarott!"  
  
She glared right back at him (whoa, big surprise there!). "I will not get the hell out of the doorway! You get the hell back into bed! And who is this Kakarott you keep yelling about, anyway? Last time I checked, the guy who nearly killed you was Son Goku, not some dude named Kakarott. Sounds like a demonic name to me."  
  
"Idiot. `Son Goku'," he spat the name as if it were too dirty to hold on his tongue, "is Kakarott! Don't you know anything?!"  
  
Her eyes narrowed. "I know plenty. I've known Goku since he was ten years old, and I've never heard anyone call him Kakarott. Care to explain?"  
  
"Hmph." Vegeta, more that willing to reveal his superior knowledge to this stupid, stubborn, angel, reseated himself on the edge of his cot. Bulma successfully suppressed a triumphant smirk, and settled herself on her own cot. Sitting on the floor would have put her at a lower level than the demonic prince, which she would not allow.  
  
"This is top secret information," he informed her haughtily. "I'm only telling you so you'll shut up and stop hurting my ears. Anyway..." He sat for a moment, apparently getting his thoughts in order, then nodded sharply to himself. "Kakarott is the youngest son of a middle-ranking demon named Bardock. When Kakarott was born, he was a proper demon, tail, wings, and all, but as he got older he began to change. It was rumored that Kakarott's mother was an angel, since Bardock simply appeared with him one day and announced that he was his son. Bardock's first mate had died in battle a few years after bearing his first son, Raditz, but since the new, `mystery child' looked demonic enough, we all assumed he was illegitimate, and the mother didn't want questions asked. However, after a few years, it was obvious that Kakarott couldn't be a full demon. His wings metamorphosed, first into white demon wings, and finally into full-fledged angel wings. He began to glow, faintly at  
first, and then more and more brightly. Only his tail remained as proof that he was, indeed, at least part demon. And that wasn't all. When he first appeared, his power level was weak, in the bottom levels of potential, but as he changed it grew higher. By the time he was six, his power was the same as mine had been at the same age. Naturally, everyone was shocked, but we would have let him stay. We would have...but he would not. At the age of ten, he ran away. We thought that would be the end of it, but a year later he appeared in the ranks of the angels. Since then, all demons who know the truth have cursed him for what he is... a traitor of the worst kind!"  
  
Vegeta spat the last sentence venomously, and Bulma stared at him in amazement. She wanted to deny it, to burst out laughing and ask him if he thought she was a fool, but she didn't. She could tell that he was telling the truth, and now that she thought about it, it made sense. She had seen Goku sometimes, right before a battle, and there had been something...frightening about him. He never let anyone see his eyes when he became really angry, and Bulma knew from experience that demon's eyes glowed red when they were battle-mad. Yes, when she thought about it, it explained a lot.  
  
Vegeta smirked at the stunned look on Bulma's face. So, that piece of knowledge had come as a surprise to her, at least. Maybe now, she would be quiet. The angel had a singularly piercing voice when shouting, and his sensitive demonic ears still smarted when he recalled it. She was right about one thing, though, he thought angrily. He was still far too weak to fly, or even walk, back to the Demonlands. It would be at least a week before he could even make the attempt, and in the meantime he was stuck in this cave with a stubborn, loud-mouthed angel. Even if she is rather attractive...Vegeta gave himself a mental slap. This was no time to be thinking of such things!  
  
Bulma, meanwhile, was lost in her own contemplations. She reminisced about Goku, the way he had been as a child. Always happy and carefree, even if he was rather clueless. Very strong, too. He and Kuririn had been trained by the great Kame'sennin himself, the first to receive such an honor in over two hundred years! She would never have suspected him of having even a trace of demonic blood. Of course, there had been that time, when she had first met him...  
  
~Flashback~  
  
"Who are you, kid?" Fourteen-year-old Bulma asked. "What are you doing, hiding out in these caves? Don't you have any parents?"  
  
The spiky-haired ten year old looked vaguely panicky as he replied. "Um, I'm...Goku! Yeah! Son Goku! And..." another pause as he thought frantically. "I don't have any parents. My grandpa lived in these caves, but he, um...died! Yeah!" The kid looked at her warily, expecting questions, but Bulma only shrugged.   
  
"Okay, whatever." She caught a glimpse of something moving around his knees. "Hey...what's that?"  
  
"It's nothing!" he said hastily. Bulma shrugged again. The thing, whatever it was, had vanished. The kid's story was obviously bogus, but he was an angel, and he did seem to be all alone...  
  
~End Flashback~  
  
Bulma smiled as the old memory resurfaced. She had taken young Goku home with her, intending to interrogate him further, but somehow had never gotten around to it. Things had been so busy! First there had been the loner demon, Piccolo, to fight, and then all-out war with the Hells...come to think of it, Vegeta had known Goku right from the start...and now she was stuck here, in a cave, with a stubborn, spoiled, annoying, really hot demon prince...Bulma frowned. Where had that last one come from? Vegeta was a demon, he wasn't hot, he was...Bulma snuck a glance at him, where he sat, brooding, on the edge of his cot, and tried to think of an adjective to describe him. After long moments of fruitless search, she settled (lamely) on...not hot. Yes. Definitely not hot. After a few more moments of staring at him, Bulma shook herself, pulled a book out of her pack, and began to read, pointedly turning her back to the...not hot...Demon Prince.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, in the dungeons, Goku was enjoying a little family reunion. For a few moments all he did was stare, and then he got a grip on himself and stuttered, "F-father?!"  
  
Bardock leaned cooly against the wall opposite his son's cell. "What's the matter, don't you recognize me?"  
  
"Y-yes, I do, but..." Goku trailed off. Bardock was giving him That Look, the look Goku and Raditz had dreaded as demonlings. It was the look that said, "You've got some explaining to do, and it had damn well better be a good explanation." Bardock spoke quietly.  
  
"Why did you run away?"  
  
Goku lowered his gaze to his feet as he tried desperately to remember, to think back. Why had he run away? At last, he spoke.  
  
"The others...none of them ever said so to my face, but I could feel it. The whispers, the pointing. `There goes the half-breed!' I started going on explorations because it was a way I could be by myself, without any of that." Goku raised his eyes again. Bardock was still looking inscrutable.  
  
"Why didn't you come back?" Why did you betray us?  
  
The last question remained unspoken, but Goku still heard it, as plainly as if his father had shouted, and he cringed inwardly. This time, his gaze only went halfway down as he considered his answer. "I...I met an angel. She was older than me, and she asked me who I was. I couldn't tell her the truth, so I lied. I panicked and told her I was an angel, with nowhere to go. She offered to let me come home with her, and I thought it would be fun. So I went...and it was such a relief! No one pointed, no one whispered. For once, I fit in."  
  
"So you stayed." Bardock's expression was still unreadable.  
  
"Yes." Goku looked shamefaced. "I kept telling myself, `You should go back,' but I never did. Then there was Kame'sennin's training, and the tournament, and Piccolo, and by the time the war started, I couldn't leave. I had too many friends, too many obligations and debts." The angel/demon raised his eyes at last to meet his father's steely gaze. "You taught me to honor my obligations, and repay my debts. Would you ask me to break an oath?"  
  
He held his father's gaze for endless seconds, until Bardock's eyes softened slightly. "You always did take things to heart, although I would have preferred it if you had, just this once, been dishonorable. Or perhaps not." The older demon shook his head. "Decisions like these are always hard." He looked back at his youngest son. "Your brother is on guard duty next. We've been put in charge of you, to `prove our loyalties', although we've never done anything remotely traitorous." He sighed and shook his head again. "Enough of this. Did you say you were hungry?"  
  
"Yes," Goku said, but his reply was almost overpowered by a thunderous rumble from his stomach. Bardock smiled.  
  
"I'll see what I can do."  
  
* * *  
  
Kuririn sighed and rubbed his forehead, roughly where the bridge of his nose would have been, if he had had a nose. He was developing another headache, and this one threatened to be a real migraine. General Son Goku was still missing, along with Bulma, and that left Kuririn, as the second-highest ranking general in the Heavens, in charge. He wondered how Goku managed it. He had to attend meetings with the lower ranking officers to discuss strategy, he had to decide how to deploy troops, and it seemed like no one could get anything done without his personal approval. At least he had a secretary to do paperwork for him, since Goku wouldn't have lasted five minutes if he had attempted to do his own.  
  
Kuririn had known Son Goku and Bulma from childhood, but right now he was wishing for Goku's return less out of friendship than out of longing to return to being only second in command. And he didn't know what they would do the next time Vegeta appeared on the battlefield. Usually, he and Goku fought to a standstill, and if this meant that the General couldn't fight anyone else, it meant that the Prince couldn't, either. But now Goku was gone, and although Kuririn was very strong indeed by normal reckoning, he wasn't that strong. Vegeta would flatten him!  
  
Kuririn sighed again, and sent a silent plea to his best friend, not unlike the one Yamcha had recently addressed to Bulma.  
  
"Goku, come back safe, please." 


	3. Wierdos and Destiny

Disclaimer: I claim no responsibility for the actions of anyone in this story. Especially not rock girl. You'll see what I mean. Oh, and the names belong to Toriyama-san.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
A week later, the situation in Otherworld was largely unchanged. Goku and his brother and his father spent their time holed up in the dungeon. Despite a few tensions, Goku was generally on good terms with his family after the first day, and they were making a concerted effort to completely eradicate Hell's food supplies. Kuririn was coping with being suddenly in charge of everything, and Yamcha was dealing with Bulma's loss. At this point, Hell (I'm speaking of the realm's people in general) believes that Prince Vegeta is dead, killed by Goku. Heaven (see note for Hell), on the other hand, thinks that Goku and Bulma have both been killed or captured by Hell. How little they know.  
  
Vegeta had begun exploring the caves as a way to rebuild his endurance, and additionally as a way of getting away from Bulma, who stirred some very strong, conflicting feelings, mostly of dislike, but there was something else in that mixture which he wanted very much to suppress…  
  
However, the exploration technique failed in the latter purpose, since Bulma was nearly as bored as he was (after all, there were only so many times one could re-read a book), and was only too ready to tag along, even if she spent most of the time fighting with Vegeta rather than getting any real exploring done. Today they had gone farther that ever before, and were in the midst of a huge, grand cave, filled with impressive stone formations and echoing with the sound of dripping water. Bulma looked around in awe, then hurried after Vegeta and his ki ball, the only light in the subterranean caverns.  
  
"Slow down, can't you?" she snapped. "I want some more time to look around!"  
  
"Then make your own ki ball, angel," he snapped back at her. "I'm not a tour guide."  
  
Bulma subsided into silence with an offended snort, and then they were in the next cave.  
  
"Hey," Bulma said, stepping forward. "That stalagmite looks just like a person." Prompted by some universal urge to touch odd-looking things, she laid a hand on it…and drew back with a gasp.  
  
"What's wrong, woman?" Vegeta asked scornfully. "It's just a rock."  
  
"It moved!" Bulma exclaimed. At Vegeta's look of disbelief, she snapped. "It did! Take a look!"  
  
Still looking skeptical, Vegeta approached the formation and touched it…and blinked. This time, it didn't just move. Color and life spread from the point of contact, and the stone…no, the girl, it was plainly alive now, took a deep breath and looked up at the angel and the demon.  
  
"So you're the ones, eh?" The girl was dressed in a plain, blue-gray robe, with short, light brown hair and curiously penetrating eyes the same color as her robe. She looked at them both, and smiled oddly. The girl then pointed to a circular pool in the center of the cave, and a flame sprang into existence above it. Vegeta found his voice at last and scowled at her.  
  
"Who the hell are you? And what do you mean, we're the ones? The ones for what? Would you give a better explanation than that, girl?"  
  
Bulma added her glare to his, for once in agreement with the demon prince. "Yeah! And what were you doing as a rock? You nearly scared me to death, moving like that!"  
  
"I was waiting for the ones who would come. You." The girl frowned at the flame, made a few passes at it, and nodded in satisfaction. "My task is to explain to you the beginning of things, which has long been forgotten."  
  
The angel and demon exchanged glances, their thoughts running along very similar lines, something like 'Humor the crazy person, or at least demand more of an explanation before pounding her.'  
  
Vegeta growled, "Why would we want to know about the beginning of things? I have enough problems."  
  
"Yeah," Bulma agreed. "I've never particularly liked history anyway."  
  
"It is important for you to know," the girl said gravely. "Soon, if the future is not altered, the Kaos will come again."  
  
"The Kaos?" The question came from demon and angel together, and they glared at each other for daring to have the same train of thought.  
  
"Watch." The girl gestured at the flame, and Bulma and Vegeta, their curiosity overcoming their suspicion, looked into the fire.  
  
At first, they saw nothing. Then Bulma realized that this was the point. They were looking into a fire, but they didn't see flames. Instead, they saw nothing. Pure, blank, absolute nothingness. Bulma blinked, and then nearly panicked as she realized that she was no longer in the cave. She was floating, touching nothing, hearing nothing, and seeing almost nothing. What little she could see consisted of one demon prince, pissed, and one really weird girl, smug.  
  
"In the beginning," the girl intoned, and, as if on cue, something sprang into being. "There was created the dark and the light." Light sprang into being, and where there was light, there was darkness. And they danced. "The light and the dark were together, in harmony, and from this harmony there came the angels and the demons." The image zoomed in, revealing the forms of the newly-created beings. "And the angels and the demons lived together for centuries upon end. And they were happy." The image showed angels and demons being sickeningly happy. Vegeta snorted with cynical amusement, and even Bulma looked skeptical.  
  
"Okay, maybe not that happy," the girl admitted. There was a brief image of what was apparently a fight in a bar. "But anyway, for the most part, things were pretty peaceful. And then," The images grew foreboding. Bulma caught herself listening for the evil swoop of background music. "There came…" dramatic pause. "The Kaos!" The image showed a…well, it was largely indescribable, but it was a sickening gray color and it slid along the ground like liquid given form and direction. "The Kaos infected members of both races, causing them to go to war!" There were images of battle and death. "Of course, some demons and angels attempted to reunite the races," Here there was a still picture of a band of bloody but determined-looking angels and demons. Bulma noted that the lead one looked rather like Goku. "But it was all in vain. However, they did succeed in driving the Kaos out of the Otherworld and into a prison, where it remains. But, in recent years…" Here Bulma felt prompted to ask a question.  
  
"Excuse me? How do you know what's been going on in recent years if you've been a rock?"  
  
The girl glared at her. "IN RECENT YEARS," she repeated in a loud, I'm-choosing-to-ignore-what-you-just-said tone, "The prevailing state of war between the races has escalated. If something is not done, and soon, to bring the races together, the Kaos will break free once again, and wreak havoc on the land!"  
  
Vegeta raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And why, exactly, have you chosen us to carry out this all-important task?"  
  
The girl looked sheepish. "To tell the truth, mainly because you're the first people to come here in about three hundred years, and the last ones didn't touch me. Touch is required to trigger the transformation."  
  
"Is it?" Bulma asked curiously. "Just what is this spell? How is it constructed? Does it use a pattern-recognition base, or…"  
  
"I don't have time for this!" Vegeta growled. "You can stay here with rock-girl, angel, but I'm leaving."  
  
"You can't leave!" the girl exclaimed. "You have to accept the task! If you don't, there will be terrible consequences for the otherworld!"  
  
"I'm a demon, remember? I like terrible things!"  
  
"Not if they're happening to you," Bulma muttered. The girl giggled. Vegeta glowered.  
  
"I HEARD THAT!"  
  
Bulma grinned at him. "Good." She turned to the girl, totally tuning Vegeta out, which made him even more angry. A vein started to throb in his forehead. "So," she asked. "Just what, exactly, are we supposed to do?"  
  
The girl shrugged. "How should I know? I'm just the messenger. So do you accept, or what? If you don't, I need to tell someone, and if you do, I'm leaving."  
  
"I accept it," Bulma said. Emphasis on the 'I'. Implication; Vegeta could do whatever he darn well pleased.  
  
The girl nodded. "Good. Here, you'll need this." She handed Bulma an amulet, apparently made of black volcanic glass. It had been meticulously carved, and it was like one of those pictures that seem to be a young woman if looked at one way, and an old hag if you alter your view. The carving of the charm shifted between the shape of a demon and that of an angel. The outer edge of a feather became part of a profile, a demonic tail became the boundary of an angelic pinion. Bulma studied it, intrigued. She had never seen anything quite like it.  
  
"Hey, what…" she started to ask, and then looked up. The girl was gone.  
  
"Let me see that thing she gave you, angel," Vegeta snapped.  
  
"Why should I?" Bulma demanded. "You didn't accept anything!"  
  
"So?" Before she could yell anything else in her annoying voice, he snatched it from her grasp and examined it, frowning.  
  
"What is this?"  
  
Bulma snatched it back, and this time held on more tightly. "How should I know? You heard everything she said. Come on, I'm going back." Head held high, she stalked out of the cave. Vegeta glanced around, making sure rock girl was really gone, growled, and followed her, his ki ball popping back into existence as the flame suspended over the pool flared once and then died. 


	4. Trial by Combat

a./n.- This is a purely Goku chapter. Well, there's other Saiya-jins too, but Goku's the main one. Did I say Saiya-jins? I meant demons. Yeah. And Chi-Chi shows up. That's about all, I think.  
  
Disclaimer: If DBZ were in my possession, Funimation would never have gotten their dirty, stinking, awful hands on it. So there.  
  
Chapter 4: Trial by Combat  
  
Goku stood proudly, facing the king of the demons; his king, or at least, his former king. Vegeta's father looked remarkably like his son, perhaps a shade taller and with hair a few shades lighter. His beard and moustache, however, made him easy to distinguish from his clean-shaven heir. His eyes seemed more aged, less hot-tempered and impulsive than his son, and they rested on Goku in thoughtful evaluation.  
  
"Kakarotto sa Bardock," the king said at last. He spoke Goku's full given name slowly, contemplatively. "What shall I do with you? You have betrayed our race, fought against the ones who gave birth to you, denied your name and your heritage. This I know, this everyone knows, whether you deny it or not. However, despite this, despite even my son's presumed death, you are a fine warrior and I do not believe that you truly warrant a traitor's execution. So what shall I do with you?"  
  
Goku had run every possible scenario through his head during the past weeks, and this was almost the best opening for his plan that he could have envisioned. The angel-demon jumped in hastily, before the moment passed.  
  
"Sire, I do not deny the charges, although for some I would ask an opportunity to explain more fully. As for the execution, however." he drew himself up and took a deep breath before declaiming, "I would call upon the ancient right of trial by combat."  
  
Raditz, standing guard at his brother's left shoulder, barely stifled a gasp. Bardock blinked in surprise, and then barely kept himself from smiling outright. The older demon had heard the stories, had even been in some of the battles. When his youngest son was truly motivated, only Prince Vegeta could stand against him in all the otherworld. Kakarott had grown into a clever one, or at least a straight thinker. This was the only option that gave him even a chance of survival, and King Vegeta could not deny him the ancient right of the accused to a trial by combat. It was one of the oldest demonic laws in existence.  
  
King Vegeta favored Goku with a slow, amused smile. "Very well, Kakarotto. You will have your trial. At dawn tomorrow, in the north palace arena. Dismissed."  
  
Without a word, the two demons and one angel-demon bowed low and left politely, if quickly, for the cells to discuss their audience.  
  
* * *  
  
"You're nuts," Raditz said flatly as soon as the door closed on the dungeons and they were out of everyone's earshot. "You want a trial by combat? What if King Vegeta fights against you? You wouldn't stand a chance!"  
  
Bardock favored his older son with a ringing cuff over the head. "Don't be stupid. Kakarott knows what he's doing. You may never have seen him fight, but I have, and he's good. Unless King Vegeta himself takes a hand, which I don't think he will, your brother stands a pretty good chance."  
  
"You think so?" Goku asked hopefully. "I was really just snatching at straws. By the way, has anyone heard anything about Prince Vegeta?"  
  
Raditz shook his head. "Not a word. Nearly everyone thinks he's dead by now, but I'm not sure. Vegeta was always a survivor; I just can't picture him dying."  
  
Goku shrugged, unwilling to voice an opinion, especially since he wasn't really sure what his opinion was. His common sense told him that Vegeta had to be dead, but something in his gut said that the demon prince was still alive and kicking. He changed the subject. "So, how's the war going without me?"  
  
His father shrugged. "About the same as it was going with you, since you and Vegeta never did anything but fight one another anyway. Last I heard, it was stalemate. We've been getting some funny reports from the border scouts, but nothing major."  
  
"What kind of funny reports?" Raditz asked, curious. "Why haven't I heard anything?"  
  
"You've been busy," Bardock said sarcastically, since practically the only things Raditz had been doing over the past week were eating and sparring with his brother, although it was officially 'guard duty'. "Just.funny things. Most of them sounded pretty ridiculous, so it was probably just someone who took a long cold watch with a little something to warm him up."  
  
His sons snorted in amused understanding, or at least, one of them did. Goku looked clueless until Raditz, sighing, enlightened him.  
  
"Still.what kind of reports, Tousan?" Goku asked.  
  
"Oh, weird things. Like.someone swore he saw the ground ripple and move like water. Another person said he saw shadows where there was nothing to cast them. Superstitious scouts." Bardock spat contemptuously. "Next thing you know, they'll be spreading tales about ghosts and monsters. Feh. The only thing they should be afraid of out there is their commander finding out they've been drinking on the job. Idiots."  
  
Raditz snorted in agreement, and Goku grinned. That finished, Bardock leaned forwards. "So, Kakarott, care to enlighten us on your plans for tomorrow?"  
  
* * *  
  
Goku should have been nervous the next morning. His brother certainly was. However, the demon-turned-angel seemed to have no worries whatsoever, and indeed devoured more than his usual amount of breakfast. Raditz ate as well, only slightly less than normal (since a demon's appetite is never swayed by his emotions), and then sat back to watch his brother devour the rest of the meal.  
  
"How can you be so.carefree?" the long-haired demon asked finally. "You could very well die out there today, no matter what father says."  
  
Goku pushed back from the table and looked thoughtful. "I don't really know. It's just.I've never gotten nervous before a battle. I just can't work up to it. The most I can say is.I'm excited. Really excited. I can feel that this will be a great fight."  
  
Raditz grinned crookedly. "Demon or angel, Kakarott, you're a true warrior. I. I'm proud you're my brother."  
  
"Thanks, Raditz. That means a lot to me." Goku smiled back. They sat like that for a moment, until Bardock came in, breaking the spell.  
  
"They're ready for you, Kakarott. Let's go."  
  
* * *  
  
The amphitheater was filled to overflowing with demons of every age and gender. No one wanted to miss what they assumed would be the final battle of the famous general and angel, Goku. It was highly classified information that Goku was actually Kakarotto, the demon who had vanished many years ago, but that was about to change. The angel stood tall and proud, dressed in the tatters of his old clothes, flanked by Raditz and Bardock. Raditz had offered to loan him some clothes, but Goku had declined for some reason known only to him. It was dark, in the arena; the sun had not yet risen. Although otherworld was not a planet, as such, it did have night and day as well as their corresponding light sources. There was a collective gasp from the crowd as the first red rays of daylight touched the sand, and King Vegeta came forth.  
  
Everyone knelt, even Goku, which shocked many of the audience. They rose, Goku resuming his proud, straight-backed stance, his father and brother looking more like his bodyguards than his enemies. King Vegeta began to speak into the sudden hush.  
  
"Kakarotto sa Bardock, otherwise known as the angel Goku, has been brought before me to be judged for his crimes." There was another collective gasp from the crowd as Goku's true name was spoken, and then silence fell again. "He is declaimed as a traitor to demonkind, an enemy, and the murderer of Prince Vegeta, my own son. Do you have anything to say in defense of yourself, Kakarotto."  
  
Goku drew himself up even straighter as he replied. "Only this, your Majesty; that I acted as I felt best, fulfilling my loyalties, and.has Vegeta's body been found, then?"  
  
King Vegeta's face hardened, but he answered. "No. He is missing, presumed dead. Do you have anything to say to that?"  
  
"Um.no, sir, I don't think so, but.if you haven't proven that he is, in fact, dead, then how can you accuse me of his murder?"  
  
Bardock, watching the king's face closely, could have sworn that his expression softened an iota. However, his voice did not change as he replied. "You raise a valid point, Kakarotto. Very well, the charge of murder is dropped, since my son's death cannot be proved and I believe that you have not killed any other demon."  
  
There were shocked murmurs from the crowd as they realized that this was true; despite his fame as a fighter, Goku had always been too occupied with Vegeta to attack any other demons. King Vegeta continued. "However, the other charges still warrant the death penalty. Yesterday you appealed for the right to trial by combat. Is this still your wish?"  
  
"Yes, sire."  
  
"Very well. The terms are thus. You must fight three champions of my choosing, one after the other, with a break no longer than five minutes in between and no sustenance save water. If you defeat these three, your life will be spared and you will be set free. If you lose, your defeater will execute you immediately. Do you still wish to engage in the combat?"  
  
"I do, sire."  
  
"Very well. The first challenger will be Nappa, the captain of my personal guard."  
  
The tall, muscular, bald demon emerged from the shadows behind King Vegeta's throne, grinning wickedly and cracking his knuckles. He dropped (lightly, for one so large) to the ground in front of Goku, and smirked.  
  
"Five minutes until your death, Kakarott or whatever you're called. No one has ever defeated me except King Vegeta himself!"  
  
Goku withdrew into the shade for his five minutes of rest, while Nappa stood leaning against the opposite wall. Even at such a distance, Goku and his guards could see the confident smile he wore. Raditz snarled.  
  
"Cocky bastard. I've always wanted to beat the crud out of him." He grinned down at his brother. "Guess you'll just have to do it for me, eh, Kakarott?"  
  
Bardock sighed, and spoke. "I really shouldn't be telling you this, but.Nappa's style is all brute strength. He'll try to get in close and overwhelm you, but he has a disproportionate lack of speed. He also has a horrible temper; get him to lose it and the battle's half over."  
  
Goku grinned. "Thanks, father. I'll keep that in mind."  
  
"See that you do. Your five minutes are over; hurry up and win."  
  
"Yes, sir!" Goku strode out onto the sand.  
  
* * *  
  
The fight was not short; neither was it long. It was an average fight, if such a term could be applied, but it was obvious from the start who the winner would be. Goku defended himself easily, and Nappa desperately warded off the angel-demon's blows, barely keeping up his own defense and growing more furious by the second at his inability to score. Finally Goku got a blow through, and then another; in five more minutes Nappa was out cold on the sand, and the only wear Goku showed was a purpling bruise on one cheekbone.  
  
Panting a little, he slowly raised his eyes from his defeated opponent and locked gazes with King Vegeta, pupils still glowing red from battle-rage. The demon king nodded once, in acknowledgement, and spoke loudly enough for the entire audience to hear, a feat rendered none too difficult by the post-battle silence.  
  
"You have defeated your first opponent, Kakarotto. For your second.Chi-Chi sa Gyuu-Mao, come forth."  
  
There were gasps and murmurs from the crowd as a beautiful demon girl emerged from the shadows behind King Vegeta's throne, dressed in a simple black tunic and leggings. Chi-Chi was widely known to be one of the greatest fighters in Hell, second only to Prince Vegeta and his father, with whom she frequently sparred. Goku knew all this, but as his eyes met hers he was caught, remembering.  
  
~ "Kakarott, do you like me?" the girl gazes shyly at the ground as she speaks. "Of course I do, Chi-Chi," the boy replies, puzzled.  
  
"Kakarott.when we grow up, do you.would you." the girl, unable to finish her sentence, ducks her head again as red floods her cheeks.  
  
"Would I what, Chi-Chi?" the boy asks, genuinely curious.  
  
She looks up, still shy. "Kakarott, will you always like me?"  
  
"Sure I will," the boy replies, shrugging as though the answer is a given. "We'll always be friends, Chi-Chi. You wanna spar?"  
  
"Sure, okay."~  
  
As their eyes locked, Goku remembered that day.and grinned. This is going to be a great fight! 


	5. Returning Home

a/n: It's been a while, but I'm back! Yippy skippy! I'm trying to write faster, honest, but school and life keeps getting in the way. At least this chapter is fairly long! Plus, I had to finish chapters of my other two fics first. *Ahem* Anyway, enough about me. What is about to happen may seem sudden. It is. Vegeta always struck me as a sudden kind of guy. I apologize if my fight descriptions seem.sucky. I don't write them very often. On with the fic!  
  
Disclaimer: I own everything in the world. Didn't you see my name on your television when you flipped it on this morning? Unfortunately, Dragonball Z is the exception. Go figure. *Walks away muttering*  
  
Returning Home  
  
Two days after the incident with the girl in the cave, Bulma awoke to find Vegeta stealthily pulling on his skin-tight leggings in the grey morning light. She sat up immediately.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, even as her heart gave an odd sink at the conclusion she rapidly reached. It was obvious what he was doing; he had been preparing for this moment for days.  
  
"I'm going home, angel," he grunted, refusing to look at her as he pulled on his boots. "Don't try to stop me."  
  
Bulma accurately translated this remark, came to a decision, and spoke. "All right then. I won't."  
  
Vegeta glanced up at her in surprise. "You won't? What." he stopped, shook himself briskly, and snorted. "Good."  
  
There was silence. Vegeta had finished dressing, but was making no move to go. Bulma had gotten out of bed, but was making no move to stop him. Tension was pulsing in the air, but why or what it was building to, neither of them knew. At least, not consciously. All right, so Vegeta knew, as his heart banged against his ribcage in a way it hadn't done since he was fourteen and infatuated with Chi-Chi ( that was one of his more embarrassing memories), but he was definitely not going to show it. Not even if this was the last time they ever saw each other. Not even if she sometimes seemed to understand him better than any demon he'd ever known. Not even if she made him feel. . .no. She was an angel, dammit! He was just moving towards her to deliver some parting shot, that was all. He was only grasping her shoulder and leaning in towards her to. . . aw, screw it. With Bulma this close to him, her scent driving him nearly mad with desire, Vegeta gave up the ghost and followed his instincts.  
  
Bulma stiffened with surprise as Vegeta pressed his lips against hers roughly, pulling her into him. Then she melted, pressing into him as if this was what she had intended since she first laid eyes on him, opening her lips and teeth as his tongue sought access and pushing her own into his mouth, and if this was sin, then demons had the better end of the deal by far. And then. . .he pulled away, leaving her gasping.  
  
"I'll see you again, angel," he growled, before turning and stalking out of the cave. Bulma, wondering if that was a threat or a promise, watched as he disappeared into the half-light of dawn, hand rising unconsciously to brush her lips. Then it began to register. 'Vegeta kissed me. Vegeta kissed me. Vegeta kissed me!' Her world spinning around her, Bulma tried to react. She knew this shouldn't involve thinking (reaction was supposed to come from her guts, dammit!) but, somehow, it did. A small part of her was screaming, "Demon! Demon! Evil demon! Bad!" Most of the rest of her shut it up quickly with; "Hot, sexy demon prince. Besides, he's Vegeta." This seemed to satisfy the other bits fairly well, but Bulma still couldn't seem to find a reaction other than emphatically *not* melting into a puddle of angelic goo.  
  
"Well," she finally said to the empty dawn. "That was. . .sudden."  
  
* * *  
  
Chi-Chi and Goku circled one another on the sands of the arena, each gauging the other's strengths and weaknesses, neither willing to make the first move. They seemed ready to continue in this pattern all day, and Raditz was just leaning back on the sidelines when Bardock's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Here it comes. . ." he whispered, and Raditz shot upright again hastily as Chi-Chi dove for his younger brother's throat. Goku dodged, and both fighters vanished into a blur of motion. After a few minutes of this, they flew apart, panting, and began to circle one another once again.  
  
"You've been training, Kakarott," Chi-Chi said, warily. Although her eyes met Goku's squarely, they were shuttered, giving away nothing of what she was thinking no matter how hard Goku tried to read her.  
  
"So have you," he answered. He tried to think of something else to say, but the brief conversation seemed to have died a sudden death. Chi-Chi came in again, but flipped over his head at the last minute and tossed a ki blast at him as he turned. The attack caught him slightly off balance, but he managed to dodge the worst of it and bounce back up- straight into Chi- Chi's snap kick. He yielded to the force of the blow, flipping backwards with its momentum and coming back in for an attack of his own which landed solidly and threw Chi-Chi back a little, off balance. Goku didn't feel guilty; he gave his all in every fight, especially when fighting people he respected and/or liked. It would have been dishonorable to do otherwise. He tried to press his advantage, but Chi-Chi recovered quickly and ducked away. They resumed circling.  
  
On the sidelines, Bardock leaned back against the wall of the arena. "This is definitely going to take a while. They're well matched." He eyed his oldest son, who was leaning forward towards the fighters on the sand, almost vibrating with the intensity of his concentration on the battle. "Relax, Raditz. You're going to make me tense if you keep that up, not to mention giving yourself muscle cramps."  
  
Raditz took a deep breath and forced himself to lean back, only to bolt up again as Goku and Chi-Chi once again blurred into motion. Bardock heaved a sigh of resignation; so much for getting Raditz to relax. The blur once again resolved itself into two distinct shapes, but this time Chi-Chi had gained a slash on one arm. She didn't wipe the blood away, merely narrowed her eyes and crouched. Goku seemed to pay it no mind at all, his eyes flickering only briefly to the wound before returning to his opponent's face and torso. They continued.  
  
* * *  
  
In Heaven, Kuririn was having a very frustrating day. The paperwork was piling up, people were coming to him with complaints about everything from the temperature of their quarters to the lax security (the latter was actually a valid concern, but Kuririn was too busy to do anything about it and doubted the demons would attack again so soon after the recent battle, anyway), and he was developing a migraine. His current petitioner was an old friend, but Kuririn was still seriously contemplating throwing him out. The beleaguered angel pinched his skull where the bridge of his nose would have been if he'd had one, and sighed.  
  
"Ask me that again, Yamcha, just so I'll be sure that you are actually being this stupid."  
  
"I want to take a search party out and look for Bulma," his scarred friend replied, leaning forward earnestly and pushing a stray bit of his long black hair out of his face. "Please, Kuririn. She could be hurt! She could be in danger! I have to find her, I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to her!"  
  
"Yamcha," Kuririn stated patiently. "You can't." He held up a hand to forestall Yamcha's protest, and continued. "One, you have no clue where to look for her. Two, she could very well have been captured, and in that case it would do nada if you went looking for her." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Three, I can't really spare the angels right now, and four, much as I hate to even think about it, she could be. . ."  
  
"Hi, guys! What's going on?"  
  
"Never mind, I see she isn't," Kuririn sighed, leaning back as Bulma entered nonchalantly, as though she hadn't been missing for nearly a month, and smiled brightly at them. If the smile was a bit forced, Yamcha was too overjoyed and Kuririn too stressed out to notice.  
  
"Bulma! You're back! You're safe! I missed you so much!" Yamcha swept her up in an exuberant hug, which she returned, smiling.  
  
"Of course I'm safe, you big dope. You're not getting rid of me that easily."  
  
"So where were you for a whole month?" Yamcha asked, curiously. "You had me really worried, Bulma."  
  
"I was. . .in a cave." Bulma silently cursed her angelic honesty. "I'll tell you later, okay? It's a really long story."  
  
"Welcome back, Bulma. Please tell me you brought Goku." Kuririn's eyes were full of pleading, but Bulma only looked troubled.  
  
"He's missing? No one told me that."  
  
"Well, crap," Kuririn sighed frankly, rubbing his temples.  
  
"They made you take over, didn't they?" Bulma's eyes sparked with just a bit of humor. "Poor baby."  
  
"I develop new respect for Goku every day. I always thought he was a bit thick when he wasn't fighting, but this," Kuririn gestured around himself at his paper-covered desk, "It's incredible! How did he possibly get through it all?"  
  
Bulma stifled a chuckle. "You want to know his secret?" Kuririn nodded desperately, and the blue-haired angel grinned wickedly before continuing. "He didn't."  
  
Kuririn blinked twice, and his eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. "What do you mean, he didn't?"  
  
"Goku followed a very practical managerial approach; throw everything away. Anything that someone has time to write down can't be that important, and if it becomes that important then he'd deal with it then, when there was no paper involved." Bulma allowed herself a smug grin. "I taught him myself. Makes things a lot simpler."  
  
Kuririn blinked for a moment, then grinned suddenly. "Well, that makes sense. Thanks, Bulma. You've just saved my sanity and my image of Goku."  
  
"Speaking of which, you really have no idea where he is?"  
  
"None whatsoever," Yamcha replied. "The last anybody saw of him was during the battle, and then. . .poof. Utterly disappeared."  
  
Bulma frowned. "That's weird. Vegeta. . .I mean, I don't think he was injured that badly when he was fighting Vegeta."  
  
Kuririn shrugged. "Well, wherever he is, I hope he comes back soon. This job is going to kill me!"  
  
* * *  
  
The fight progressed into midday, with both combatants tiring at approximately the same rate. It was obvious that the fight would be a close one, and Bardock, who was settled on the sidelines with a very jumpy Raditz, knew that when the end came it would be sudden. Goku and Chi-Chi were circling again, both panting, both bloodied, their clothes burned and ripped although not indecently so. As they sprang towards one another again and Raditz tensed, Bardock was struck by a sudden foreboding; this would be the last engagement. Although his relaxed posture didn't change, his eyes narrowed as he followed the two blurred figures with rapt attention.  
  
Goku barely saw the attack coming. Chi-Chi had fallen into a pattern; a fast, powerful, difficult pattern, to be sure, but a pattern nonetheless, and he prepared to counter the next move. However, he should not have relied on this pattern; the next attack was sudden, unexpected, and very erratic. As Goku braced to receive her next kick, the demon girl suddenly broke away and flew almost faster than the eye could follow up and over his head in a ki-assisted trajectory, flipping so that she landed facing him and flinging her blast while he was still turning. Almost too late, Goku reacted on pure instinct, rocketing up and out of the path of the attack instead of trying a last-minute block which would have been doomed to failure. However, he stayed barely ahead of the beam as Chi-Chi turned rapidly to keep him in her sights. His trajectory brought him closer to her, though, and he lashed out in passing before he hit the sand in a barely controlled roll of a landing. It was enough; Chi-Chi lost her concentration, the beam spluttered, and Goku twisted and shot forward, hitting her squarely and sending them both to the sand with Chi-Chi on the bottom.  
  
The pair simply lay for a moment, recovering, although Goku's grip on Chi-Chi allowed no possibility of escape. As they lay panting, however, Chi- Chi's furious glare gradually faded until she was staring up at him with an expression of. . . sadness? Almost, although there was still a hint of anger in those eyes as well.  
  
"Why?" she whispered, so quietly that even Goku, directly on top of her, had to strain his keen ears to understand. "Why did you leave? You idiot! Why?"  
  
Goku blinked, taken aback. "Chi. . . I. . .for what it's worth," he was speaking softly now, as well, almost as softly as her. This was private. "I didn't mean to."  
  
"You didn't mean to?!" she half-laughed, half-sobbed.  
  
"It. . .it all happened so fast," he confessed. "I didn't think of the damage until it was far too late to turn back. I. . . Chi, I'm sorry."  
  
His grip had slackened during his speech, but Chi-Chi didn't try to escape. She smiled at the use of her old nickname, very faintly, although her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Kakarott. . . I missed you." She drew him down and kissed him before he knew what was happening.  
  
On the sidelines, Raditz's jaw dropped, Bardock blinked and then began to smirk, and the entire crowd rose to their feet with a collective gasp. Even King Vegeta lost his composure for an instant, rising to his feet with a shout.  
  
"Enough! The match is finished!" Goku and Chi-Chi moved apart guiltily but with reluctance at the King's exclamation and stood like children who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, looking at the sand and shuffling their feet. Before anyone had recovered, however, a familiar figure burst through the main gates of the stadium.  
  
"How dare you! Kakarotto is my opponent! How dare you send others against him?!"  
  
"P-prince Vegeta!" The voice of the guard at the gate seemed to shake the gathered demons out of their shock, and a hush fell as the entire audience, as well as Bardock and Raditz, bowed. Goku blinked, and then a huge grin spread across his face.  
  
"I knew it!" he hissed to Chi-Chi, who was still standing beside him. "I knew he couldn't be dead!"  
  
The demon girl shook her head slightly in astonishment as Goku looked back at Vegeta. 'He's insane,' she thought fondly. 'To be so happy that his enemy wasn't killed. . .well, I suppose it shows either great spirit, or an unwillingness to finally betray us. Either way. . .he's still insane, but I love him.' She shook her head again as the implications of that private admission sunk in. 'I must be insane!'  
  
While she was occupied with these thoughts, Vegeta stalked across the arena and halted in front of Goku. A familiar sneer twisted the demon prince's lips.  
  
"So, Kakarott. You've gotten careless."  
  
"Er. . .sorry, Vegeta." Goku placed a hand behind his head, sheepishly.  
  
Meanwhile, King Vegeta had recovered from his shock. "Vegeta, give an account of yourself. Where have you been?"  
  
"Recovering, father," The prince answered smoothly, turning away from Goku and giving a quick bow to Vegeta Sr. "I was injured in my last fight and could not return until now."  
  
He was a good liar. Out of all the assembled demons, Goku was the only one who guessed that Vegeta was not telling the entire truth about his whereabouts over the past month, and only because he had inflicted the wound that Vegeta had mentioned. He knew that Vegeta would have died without help. . .but whose?  
  
As he pondered this, Vegeta straightened up and began a strident tirade. "Father, I demand that Kakarott be set free at once!" He took no notice of the gasps this engendered among the watching crowd, and continued. "I made a pact with him to fight none but me until his death. He is my opponent only! Release him immediately!"  
  
King Vegeta took a deep breath. . .and sighed. "Very well. As my son demands it, and as the accused can no longer be tried for even the suspicion of murder, this trial is declared void. You may go, Kakarotto."  
  
Goku bowed respectfully. "Thank you, your majesty." He turned to the younger Vegeta. "Now?"  
  
Vegeta had no need to ask what that question meant. "No. You're tired, bruised, and bloody. It would be a waste of my time. Be grateful, Kakarott. For now, your life is spared."  
  
"Bardock, Raditz." The two demons snapped to attention as King Vegeta spoke their names. "Accompany Kakarotto until he is beyond our boundaries. Understood?"  
  
"Yes, sir," they answered in crisp unison, and flew across the arena sand with a few wingbeats to land lightly beside Goku. Raditz smirked knowingly at him, but Goku only looked innocently bemused in response. Bardock nodded at his younger son in satisfaction, and Chi-Chi stepped up to Goku's side.  
  
"I will go with you," she announced, quietly but firmly. Vegeta shot her a puzzled glance at this, and cocked an eyebrow, wordlessly inviting an explanation. She only gave him a look which was plainly 'I'll explain later' and followed Goku into the air. Both of the prince's eyebrows went up when he saw how her hand sought Goku's but he had more to worry about at the moment. He turned back to the king, his father, and ignored the little nagging voice which was asking him if he would have spared Kakarotto quite so easily if he hadn't known how upset Bulma would have been at the angel- cum-demon's death.  
* * *  
  
At the border between Heaven and Hell, Bardock motioned for his two sons and Chi-Chi to descend. They nodded in acknowledgement, and a moment later four soft thumps announced their landing in the otherwise silent landscape.  
  
"This is where we leave you," Bardock announced without preamble. "Goodbye and good luck, son. We'll meet again soon."  
  
"I hope so," Goku replied, smiling and accepting his father's proffered hand. They exchanged a firm shake, and Bardock leapt into the air.  
  
"It's been fun, especially seeing you beat the crap out of that big lug, Nappa," Raditz grinned, slapping his brother on the back. "See ya around, little bro."  
  
"Bye for now, big bro," Goku replied, grinning in return. As a final farewell, Raditz jerked his head at Chi-Chi and winked suggestively at his brother before leaping into the air after Bardock. Chi-Chi blushed faintly; Goku only looked clueless, as usual when in non-fighting circumstances. The beating of wings slowly faded away into the sky, and there was a rather awkward silence.  
  
Goku broke it at last. "I guess. . .you should be heading back now, huh?"  
  
"I should," Chi-Chi agreed, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. "I. . ." slowly, but resolutely, she met his gaze. "I will wait for you, Kakarott. Goku." Before he could formulate a reply, she was gone, disappearing into the sky over the realm of Hell. He gazed after her for a long moment, black eyes reflecting none of his thoughts, and then turned on his heel and rose, with a leap and a fierce beating of angelic wings, into the air of Heaven. 


End file.
